Improvement in car-wheels



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIO'E.

FRANK A. FOUTS, on BLOOMIINGTON, ILLINOIS.

- IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 138,798, dated May 13, 1873; application filed April 21, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK A. Forms, of Bloomington, McLean county, Illinois, have invented a Car-Wheel, of which the following is a specification:

The object of myinven tion is to guard against broken rails, misplaced switches, or spreading of the track. My invention consists in providing the ordinary car-wheel with outside supplementary treads having outer flanges, the periphery of the supplementary tread being smaller than that of the ordinary wheel, so that ordinarily the supplementary wheel shall be carried clear of the track,'but should the main wheels jump the tracl; the trucks will be supported by the supplementary wheels.

This extension and flange, marked a andb, will catch the main track-rail in case the switch is placed wrong. It extends out far enough to be directly over the main track-rail if placed to side track, and will let the wheel down on main track-rail and hold, as before stated; or, in case, the track should spread, it would let the wheels down on extension and flange marked a and b, and hold either by one or both flanges, and would roll in that way until wheels come to regular gage or train could be stopped. The flange a should not extend out further than the face of wheel marked a, so that it would not interfere with the running in any way. This extension and flange are supposed to be cast with wheel.

I claim as my invention- A car-wheel having the flange d, tread c, and the supplementary tread b' having the outer flange a, substantially as set forth.

FRANK A. FOUTS.

Witnesses:

T. O. OoNNoLLY, H. H. BURTON. 

